Tag Archives: change

“Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.” – King Whitney Jr, President, Personnel Laboratory Inc

Rick Maurer wrote a great post Change Management and Anxiety at Change Management News. I recently came across his site and find it to be informative, concise, and highly relevant. I have added his blog to my links on this site.

Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a mentor to me for Project Management via his PM Podcast and his PMP Prepcast. He recently attended a Lean Six Sigma workshop and shared his initial impression on the podcast Episode 093: Lean Six Sigma Overview. It was really fun to hear his first thoughts and I am excited more project managers will get exposure to Lean because of him!

Lean Topic: KAIZEN – A visual way to involve people in giving improvement ideas to areas other than their immediate work area or job scope

Excerpt: The only responsibility of a non-manager or non-team leader is to identify the problem and write it down on the kaizen newspaper, number it, identify the type of problem (safety, category of waste, etc.) and take a stab at a cause or root cause. The kaizen newspaper frees people from bringing the solution along with the problem and in that sense it is very different from the kaizen idea suggestion system. … The kaizen newspaper is a daily management tool and should be read and acted upon each day.

Lean Topic: GROW LEADERS– This 9-page paper suggests a focus on the leadership behaviors that are crucial for Lean to progress beyond limited pilot studies and get sustainable results.

Excerpt: Take note of the statement there is “no such thing as organizational change, only personal change” (source unattributed). Lean Leadership in healthcare, as in any other industry, is dependent on the transformation and behavior of individuals. Training courses, culture change initiatives, rapid improvement teams, etc., will have only limited impact unless Lean leadership is developed on a one-to-one basis. The good news, however, is that behavior can change very quickly. Given the right support, the rest of the stakeholders will begin to mimic the Lean leadership behavior.

Excerpt from Part I: To understand why physicians have resisted, you have to get inside their minds and skins. … These cultural characteristics may reflect a self-centered, narrow-minded, and shortsighted worldview. But these traits dominate many physicians’ minds and can’t be dismissed.

Excerpt from Part II: Certain specialists, including heart surgeons, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons, neurosurgeons, and oncologists – the economic lifeblood of most hospitals – are accustomed to acting decisively in clinical matters. This decisiveness carries over into business affairs. … Physicians ask to be trusted to do the right thing, to be considered professionals, to be paid for productivity, and seek information systems that provide relevant information and speed patient flow.

Excerpt from Part III: In The Effective Executive (Harpers, 1956), Peter F. Drucker state leaders igniting fundamental change share these traits: They rely on courage rather than analysis to dictate their priorities. They pick the future rather than the past. They focus on opportunity rather than problems. They chose their own direction, rather than climbing on someone else’s bandwagon. They aim high, for something that will make a difference, rather than something that is “safe” and easy to do. They seek fundamental contributions to improve society.